alternative medicine

alternative medicine,

the treatment and prevention of disease by techniques that are regarded by modern Western medicine as scientifically unproven or unorthodox. The term alternative medicine can encompass a wide range of therapies, including chiropracticchiropractic[Gr.,=doing by hand], medical practice based on the theory that all disease results from a disruption of the functions of the nerves. The principal source of interference is thought to be displacement (or subluxation) of vertebrae of the spine, although other areas.....Click the link for more information., homeopathyhomeopathy, system of medicine whose fundamental principle is the law of similars—that like is cured by like. It was first given practical application by Samuel Hahnemann of Leipzig, Germany, in the early 19th cent......Click the link for more information., naturopathynaturopathyor naturopathic medicine,branch of alternative medicine concerned with holistic and noninvasive methods of treating illness and maintaining health......Click the link for more information., acupunctureacupuncture, technique of traditional Chinese medicine, in which a number of very fine metal needles are inserted into the skin at specially designated points. For thousands of years acupuncture has been used, along with herbal medicine, for pain relief and treatment of various.....Click the link for more information., herbal medicineherbal medicine,use of natural plant substances (botanicals) to treat and prevent illness. The practice has existed since prehistoric times and flourishes today as the primary form of medicine for perhaps as much as 80% of the world's population......Click the link for more information., meditation, biofeedbackbiofeedback,method for learning to increase one's ability to control biological responses, such as blood pressure, muscle tension, and heart rate. Sophisticated instruments are often used to measure physiological responses and make them apparent to the patient, who then tries.....Click the link for more information., massage therapy, and various "new age" therapies such as guided imagery and naturopathy. Although many alternative therapies have long been widely employed in the treatment of disease, the scientifically oriented modern medical establishment has typically been skeptical about, and sometimes strongly opposed to, their use. Despite this, Americans spend billions of dollars on alternative treatments each year. In 1993 the U.S. National Institutes of Health established the Office of Alternative Medicine to examine the merits of such techniques. See also holistic medicineholistic medicine,system of health care based on a concept of the "whole" person as one whose body, mind, spirit, and emotions are in balance with the environment. Stressing personal responsibility for health, a holistic approach may include conventional medicine and various.....Click the link for more information..

alternative medicine

therapeutic practices based on understandings of the human organism, the disease process and its treatment, which are different to those held by Western scientific medicine. Conceptualizing alternative medicine thus always implies some under standing of the principle features of orthodox 'S cientific’ treatment. These are usually held to be:

a mechanical/materialistic understanding of the body and of disease;

a doctrine of ‘specific etiology’, i.e. that all disease is caused by specific material pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, defective genes, etc;

a vigorous interventionist therapeutic stance using surgery or chemical drugs to correct, oppose or reverse the disease process;

patient passivity and compliance with the regimen dictated by an expert profession.

Proceeding in this way towards a ‘negative’ definition of alternative medicine, however, has its dangers as it suggests a unity within both fields which is in fact absent. If regular medicine is materialistic, therapeutically aggressive, etc. (and it sometimes, but not always, is), then it is too easy to assume that all alternative approaches subscribe to opposite principles: viz: a holistic understanding of the body and disease, involving an indissoluble unity of mind and body; a 'S ympathetic’ therapeutic stance, aimed at enhancing the body's own healing processes; a cooperative relationship between therapist and patient; and an active role for the patient in regaining health. While some systems of alternative medicine do exhibit these features (for example, homeopathy), others (such as chiropractic) do not.

Sociological work on alternative medicine is a recent development, and has tended to focus on four main areas:

rather than accepting therapeutic principles at ‘face value’, interest has been shown in the social processes underlying the negotiation of the legitimacy of therapeutic principles, and of medical knowledge in general (thus the regular/alternative boundary is not fixed only by epistemological criteria, but is also historically fluid, and contingent on issues of professional power);

issues of organization and professionalization;

the resurgence of popular (and regular medical) interest in alternative medicine (involving a complex of reasons, all related in some way to a recognition of the damaging effects of science and technology – it is no accident that interest in green politics and green medicine have emerged more or less together);

the increasing interaction between regular and alternative practitioners, and the incorporation of alternative therapy into regular practice (processes which have led to the use of the term ‘complementary therapy’ rather than ‘alternative therapy’).

There is a groundswell of opinion - highlighted recently by former Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, who has experience of the effectiveness of the treatment - that people should be offered complementary therapy on the

Whether it is cutting down on overtime, switching off the BlackBerry or setting aside an hour of "me-time" each evening, it's no wonder that many people are turning to different kinds of complementary therapy to help them keep the balance just right.

The author argues that real or perceived (placebo) therapeutic improvements are alive and well in both conventional and complementary treatments, though research into the benefits of complementary therapy is lacking.

tgAAC94 is being developed initially as a complementary therapy for patients who may not achieve adequate relief with existing arthritis treatments or others who have disease limited to a few joints and therefore, may not need systemic protein therapies.

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